Middle East News: World Press Roundup

The US uses pressure and inducements to try to shift Israel on settlements. A key settler leader is not himself a settler. An Israeli school principal is disciplined for including Palestinian perspectives. Courtney Martin remembers the killing of Rachel Corrie. Arnaud de Borchgrave derides “instant diplomacy.” Four unauthorized outposts are reportedly being built in Hebron. The World Bank is providing $40 million to the PA. Ha'aretz says FM Lieberman must be fired. The Arab League may take the settlement issue to the UN. Dutch officials complain about Israeli ads depicting the occupied territories as part of Israel. Palestinian citizens of Israel commemorate the killing of 13 by Israeli forces in 2000. Seth Freedman looks at lessons from the second intifada. The Independent profiles a leader of Palestinian nonviolent protests. George Hishmeh says Pres. Obama must confront Israel over settlements.

---

---

---

U.S. Presses Israelis on Renewal of Freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Helene Cooper, Mark Landler - (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is trying to cajole the Israeli government into a 60-day renewal of the freeze on Jewish settlement building by offering it security guarantees, ranging from military hardware to support for a long-term Israeli presence in the strategically sensitive Jordan Valley, according to lawmakers and other officials briefed on the proposals. » Read more

White House offers Israel a carrot for peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am In its scramble to salvage Middle East peace talks, the Obama administration has dangled incentives before the Israeli government that touch on some of the most sensitive issues of final status talks between the two sides, administration sources said. » Read more

The unorthodox Israeli settlement leader - who isn't even a settler ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am It's no surprise that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision not to extend the Israeli settlement freeze this week was due in large part to pressure from settlers. But the man some credit as the driving force behind Mr. Netanyahu's controversial move is not the stereotypical settler. In fact, Naftali Bennett – director general of the umbrella settler leadership group, the Yesha Council – is not even a settler at all. » Read more

Israeli principal summoned over history textbook that adds Palestinian view ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Catrina Stewart - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Israel’s Education Ministry is locked in a row with a liberal high school over its use of a history textbook that gives both the Israeli and Palestinian versions of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The ministry has summoned the principal of Shaar Hanegev high school in southern Israel for “consultations” over the decision to continue using the textbook, which has been banned from the national school curriculum. Critics denounced the move as a regressive step by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning government to assert the Israeli narrative over the Palestinian one. » Read more

Rachel Corrie, an Israeli bulldozer, and our shared global fate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Courtney E. Martin - (Opinion) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am Last month, several state witnesses took the stand in a Haifa District Court to testify in the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the state of Israel. Many may still recall the disturbing photographs that wallpapered the world’s media outlets of Ms. Corrie, a 23-year-old activist from Walla, Walla, Washington, being crushed under a military bulldozer while trying to defend a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza under threat of demolition. » Read more

Commentary: Instant diplomacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) by Arnaud De Borchgrave - (Analysis) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am Along with instant coffee, instant soup, instant oven cleaners, instant Viagra, instant pain relief from four-hour Viagra, it was only a matter of time before instant diplomacy made its debut on the nation's comedy channels. Some foreign leaders have concluded American youth -- and many older Americans, too -- have tuned out serious news and tuned in comedians who make fun of everything from the nuclear ambitions of superannuated Iranian mullahs to Osama bin Laden's air-conditioned deluxe cave in the Hindu Kush. » Read more

Report: Four illegal outposts to be built in Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2010 - 12:00am The infrastructure for four illegal outposts is being constructed around the West Bank city of Hebron, a settlement affairs expert said Thursday. In an interview with Ma'an Radio, Abed Al-Hadi Hantash said the outposts would be integrated to form a new settlement, which would be linked with Kiryat Arba, the largest settlement in the district. » Read more

Fayyad signs $40 million World Bank agreement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- World Bank representative Miram Sherman signed an agreement with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Thursday to deliver a $40 million grant to the PA. Fayyad said the grant was aimed at enabling the PA to continue building state institutions and developing the infrastructure for a Palestinian state. During the signing ceremony at Fayyad's Ramallah office, the prime minister thanked the World Bank for empowering the Palestinian state to meet the needs of Palestinians, particularly as the PA worked to complete its state-building initiative.

U.S. envoy steps up shuttle to save Mideast talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - September 30, 2010 - 12:00am U.S. envoy George Mitchell on Thursday stepped up the pace of efforts to save Middle East peace talks launched four weeks ago, saying he was seeking common ground to avert their collapse. Former Senator Mitchell was speaking after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who says he will pull out of the talks unless Israel extends a freeze on new building in Jewish West Bank settlements, which expired this week. » Read more

Fire Lieberman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am The official response from the prime minister's bureau, following Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, was surprising. "The content of the foreign minister's speech was not coordinated with the prime minister," the statement said, adding "Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one handling the negotiations on Israel's behalf." » Read more

Arab League may bring settlement freeze debate to UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shlomo Shamir - September 30, 2010 - 12:00am Arab League representatives, set to meet in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the wake of the expiration of Israel's freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, will also consider a proposal to request that an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council be held on the issue, sources at the UN told Haaretz. » Read more

Dutch watchdog criticizes Israeli tourism website for blurring borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz September 30, 2010 - 12:00am The Dutch advertising watchdog has criticized Israel for publishing "misleading" information on its tourism website that blurs the borders between Israel and occupied Arab territories. The Advertising Code Committee says in a nonbinding ruling that material distributed by the Dutch branch of the Israeli National Tourism Board does not "clearly show where the border lies between what is internationally recognized as Israeli territory and 'disputed' areas." » Read more

'Arabs won't forget October 2000 killings' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Sharon Roffe-ofir - October 1, 2010 - 12:00am Ten years on, Israel's Arabs hold memorial rallies in commemoration of the October 2000 riots. Arab towns throughout the north held memorial ceremonies on Friday for the 13 people killed in the October events. Other locales held quiet protest marches to mark the anniversary. Family members of the victims visited their loved ones' graves. There was a general strike in all Arab towns on Friday. Abdul Menem, from Sakhnin, whose son Walid was killed in the October events, said that even a decade later, the families feel disrespected by the country. » Read more

The second intifada, 10 years on ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am This week marks the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the second intifada, an event that continues to have profound repercussions for millions on both sides of the Israel-Palestine divide. According to statistics released by B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, 6,371 Palestinians and 1,083 Israelis were killed during hostilities in the last decade, but on top of the list of casualties is the unquantifiable toll taken on the psyches of ordinary citizens throughout the region. » Read more

The West Bank's reluctant movie star ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - October 1, 2010 - 12:00am Away to the west of Budrus, a startlingly red sun was sinking towards the horizon behind Jaffa as the Israeli border police patrol arrived. They had driven at speed in their two jeeps along the military road beside the footprint-detecting sand track and the electronic fence that help to make up the separation barrier here. To the north, beyond a straggling, rocky olive grove and perched on top of a 160ft pylon, we could just make out the security camera, capable of taking a recognizable image of a human face from three miles. » Read more

Peace ball firmly in Obama's court ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am Although some may blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for dropping the ball soon after their peace negotiations began three weeks ago, the more likely person who will be blamed should the talks collapse totally will be no other than US President Barack Obama on whom many had banked. » Read more

---

---